Greece, Turkey, Romania and Yugoslavia signed a treaty aimed at maintaining the geopolitical status quo in the region following World War I.

The signatories agreed to suspend all disputed territorial claims against each other and their immediate neighbors following the aftermath of the war and a rise in various regional ethnicminority tensions. Read More…

Romania’s coalition government fell apart on Thursday, after all the Social Democrat (PSD) ministers resigned, protesting the firing of another cabinet member.

PSD member Dan Nica was fired earlier in the week after he made a statement suggesting the possibility of election fraud in November’s upcoming presidential ballots. The PSD party leader, Mircea Geoana, said that the entire PSD had resigned to protest against Nica’s sacking.

“All PSD ministers, supporting Dan Nica, are announcing their resignation from government. The president succeeded in triggering a political crisis, Geoana said. Read More…

August 14 a minibus, with 16 people on board, was hit by a train at a railway crossing in the county of Iași, near the town Scânteia.

Television screenshot - Antena 3

According to Under-Secretary of State for Health Raed Arafat, 13 people died, including a child, and three were seriously wounded.

The bus, which was hit in the centre, was pushed 350 m to Scânteia train station. The train stopped at about 350 meters after the impact. Train traffic in the region came to a standstill for a time. The train involved in the accident was operated by private rail company Regiotrans and ran between Iaşi and Braşov.

Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey sign an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the Nabucco natural gas pipeline from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March, a major natural gas hub in Austria, diversifying the current natural gas suppliers and delivery routes for Europe.

Pipeline Map

On 27 January 2009, the Nabucco Summit held in Budapest.

At the summit, the heads of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said, that they are prepared to provide financial backing for the Nabucco gas pipeline.

On 28 January 2009, the European Commission proposed €250 million as a part of its Economic Recovery Plan to be contributed through the EIB towards funding the Nabucco pipeline. Read More…

With freezing temperatures, combined with snow over the past few days Russia halted the natural gas flow to Ukraine, and therefore to subsequent countries such as Bulgaria, Austria, Turkey, Poland, Romania and Hungary.

The Russian natural gas pipeline is the primary source of natural gas for some countries such as Ukraine, Austria and Turkey.

Ukraine is currently in negotiations with Russia in order to restart the gas flow, however Russia has increased the prices from US$179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $250 per 1,000 cubic meters for Ukraine. Read More…

The Democratic Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party form a coalition government in Romania, with Emil Boc as the new Prime Minister.

Emil Boc

On 15 December 2008, four days after his nomination, and one day after the coalition protocol was signed, Theodor Stolojan announced that he resigned from the position of Prime Minister designate without giving any political nor personal reason.

The same day, President Traian Băsescu signed the decree that nominated the Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, and president of the Democratic Liberal Party Emil Boc. Boc aims to create a government with the Social Democrats and bring Romania out of the economic crisis.